A Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE) official expressed fears Wednesday, Feb. 10 that the number of child laborers in the country may have spiked since the start of the pandemic last year.

What's worse is that Bureau of Workers with Special Concerns Director Ma. Karina Trayvilla believes that it is directly a result of the massive increase in cases of child pornography.

"In terms of statistics wala pa po pero if you would note po yung mga recent news, tumaas daw po yung child pornography (We still don't have the statistics but if you would note recent news, there was an increase in child pornography cases)," Trayvilla said during a virtual press briefing.

"Ito ho kasi ay isa sa mga worst forms of child labor under Republic Act 9231 (This is among the worst forms of child labor under Republic Act 9231)," said the Labor official, referring to "the Act providing for the elimination of the worst forms of child labor and affording stronger protection for the working child."

"Yun po yung ikinababahala ng DoLE dahil nga ang mga bata ay nasa bahay at ang Internet ay accessible sa lahat (That is what's worrying DoLE since children are always at home and Internet is accessible to all)," Trayvilla noted.

The Department of Justice (DoJ) earlier said that 279,166 cases of online child sex abuse were recorded in the Philippines from March 1 to May 24, 2020--arguably the most stringent months of the pandemic-triggered lockdown last year. This was a distubring 200,000-case jump from the 76,561 cases tallied during the same period in 2019.

"Yun po yung ikinawo-worry namin na baka po dumagdag po ang ating statistics on child labor (Our worry is that our statistics on child labor might have increased)," Trayvilla said.

As for the hard figures, she said that her bureau is still waiting for word from the concerned Inter-Agency Council if a survey on child laborers was carried out last October.